Never Wanted To Dance
by Nokie-chan
Summary: It had been last month that Neji had felt a deeper connection to Shikamaru than before. Now that it was time for the big dance, and both of them had been blown off my their usual dates. Will Neji take the oppertunity? -Shikamaru x Neji-
1. Taken

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto._

* * *

**Never Wanted To Dance**

"Ino?"

"Taken."

"Tenten?"

"Taken."

"Sakura?"

"Taken."

"Hinata?"

"For God's sake, Shikamaru! They're all taken!!" Neji yelled directly into the face of his best friend. Shikamaru sunk to the dirty hallway floor.

"You're telling me, that for homecoming, the most important dance of the whole High School experience, we don't have dates?!"

Neji just blankly stared at the tile. The two sat in silence. Finally, the ending bell rang so loudly that Shikamaru dug both his pointer fingers so far into his ears that it hurt- mostly from the irritation of the whole situation, but nonetheless. After most of the teens had cleared out of the school, Shikamaru shook his head and looked up at Neji.

"C'mon man, let's go hang out at my place." And with that, Neji stuck out his hand to help him off the floor, and they walked lifelessly out the door without a clue of what was to come.

* * *

This was the regular routine. Neji was always over at the Nara household. His dad, Shikaku, loved having Neji over for dinner, and his mother always wished it would be a woman coming through the door with Shikamaru.

"Mom, Dad, I'm home," Shikamaru called as he somberly shrugged off his heavy backpack, letting it clunk onto the kitchen floor. He headed lazily up the staris to his room, and Neji always followed, grabbing Shikamaru's backpack as well as his own for the lazyass.

Shikamaru threw himself onto the bed, ruining the perfection of a bed Neji had folded earlier that morning. Neji always slept over, much to Shikamaru's parents and Hiashi's dismay. Neji even slept close to Shikamaru, after suffering from horrible nightmares that he would only talk to Neji about. They were mostly dreams of recently deceased Asuma, his sensei, still haunting him to tears that only Neji would see.

"What are you doing your science class project on anyway, Neji?" Shikamaru inquired.

The question had startled Neji into a jump after his deep thought.

"The Big Bang Theory."

Shikamaru let a huge smirk creep across his face. _What a perv._ Neji smiled back.

"Good luck trying to present with that while I make faces at your boring speech!" Shikamaru chuckled; Neji just loved his flawless smile. It could cheer up anyone, anytime.

It has been just last month that Neji had felt an even deeper connection to Shikamaru than before. It made his heart beat fast, and say stupid things around Shikamaru. To Neji, he wasn't just some guy, or just his best friend. Dreams had let him know that oh-too well.

"So...," Neji began. "What are we going to do about dates to homecoming?" shrugging off the tempting thoughts.

Shikamaru thought long and hard in silence. It was weird, uncomfortable. They were always being asked to dances first- Neji being utterly and remarkably beautiful, and Shikamaru being such a ladies' man, though he denied and hated it. But it was different this time.

It was like a set-up.

Neji saw the Nara deep in thought, and took the opportunity. He panned Shikamaru up and down, his expression unreadable, stopping at certain points of Shikamaru. _Nice._ He smiled. _Pretty hair, like mine!_ Neji realized. Then he suddenly saw Shikamaru catch his eyes in a spot not so comfortable.

"Excuse me, Neji? My eyes are up here," Shikamaru said coolly.

Neji blushed fiercely, turning all shades of red and spinning around, back towards Shikamaru, to hide his embarrassed face.

"No... Shikamaru...I..." But he did do it. _Why?_ He could answer himself. The thought stung like a wasp. It kept coming back- not dying after one sting.

"Heh, Neji, if I didn't know any better, I would say that you were checking me out!" Shikamaru smirked in his direction. "I do look pretty hot right now."

"Don't be such a pasty," Neji replied, his eyes becoming soft.

"Ha ha, you're right. But you look like those girls who ask me to homecoming!" Shikamaru burst into laughter, "You? Neji Hyuuga? The genius of the Leaf?! Asking me to homecoming! What a sight!"

That's when it hit Neji.

"You shouldn't have said that."


	2. The Idea

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto._

* * *

**Never Wanted To Dance**

Chapter II: The Idea

"No. Frickin'. Way!" Shikamaru had been done laughing at the Hyuuga's pawn for a while now and was staring awestruck into his faded lavender eyes. "That would be so… gay!"

"It would NOT!" Neji insisted. "We can go to homecoming together. As partners- I mean, not in that way, but…" Neji hated feeling vulnerable.

"How is that…? I… Neji…" Shikamaru looked at him with desperate eyes; that mixture of beautiful brown. Shikamaru shook his head and placed his palms over his eyes to relax and ponder the situation.

"Shikamaru… it would be… everything will be just fine. It's just a stupid dance! If you don't like my idea, then come up with your own, I.Q. boy!" Neji's voice cracked on the last word.

"No," Shikamaru stood up, "I'm not going alone… and if that's your idea, or even what you want, I owe you a lot. You've been there for me so much lately." He paced for a moment, and suddenly and lazily walked up to Neji. He gently laid a hand on Neji's flawless white skin, making it burst to life like flames of red. His hands slid down to Neji's hips, gently locking his hands behind Neji, close to the end of his spine. Neji whipped out a short breath.

"You're my pretty lady, Hyuuga."


	3. Why School Is Such a Drag

_A/N: I don't own Naruto._

* * *

**Never Wanted To Dance**

Chapter III: Why School Is Such A Drag

"What? Our Shikamaru?!"

"Yeah, I know."

Dumbstruck, Ino stared at the rumor Chouji had just told her. The news had spread like a wild fire in a dry forest.

"He's much too straight!"

"Oh, yeah, I know it's the one that looks like a lady."

"Those two?! They always…erm…hang out."

"Neji! Hey! Wait up!" Shikamaru had finally found him in the ridiculously long school lunch line. He carelessly cut in front of everyone separating him from Neji in the line. He ignored the small complaints from some of the line victims.

"How was your test?"

"Simple. It's math, duh."

Neji rolled his eyes, but was caught off guard by Shikamaru's smile again. The corners of his lips tugged to curve up until he couldn't resist a toothy grin.

"Hey, happy couple!" Ino shouted from the back of the line where Shikamaru had crawled from. It gave Neji goose bumps to hear those words together in a sentence, referring to himself and Shikamaru, but the chills were the good kind.

"God, Ino, thanks for that comment from the non-important third party," Shikamaru called in reply as he lightly scowled in her direction.

"Just saying!" she cooed back.

What a troublesome bitch.

"Shikamaru," Neji said, eyes hooked to the left, tugging at Shikamaru's direct attention, "You're embarrassed about being with me, even if we're not actually a lovely-dovey couple, aren't you?"

Neji resisted the thought of tears. Shikamaru's eyes flickered in thought. He hadn't really thought anything about it besides that it was his first male on male-erm, no; male project was a better way to describe it.

"No, Neji. I'm sure every girl in this damn school is jealous of me."

"And me," Neji grinned.

"It's only right that the two best looking people in the whole school end up together," Shikamaru added with a wink.


	4. The Lesson

_A/N: I don't own Naruto._

* * *

**Never Wanted To Dance**

Chapter 4: The Lesson

"And one and two."

"And three and four."

Shikamaru and Neji chanted in rhythm as they practiced slow dancing for the quickly arriving homecoming. Neji's heart was in unison of the steps they took as Shikamaru held Neji, so he wouldn't stumble. Most of the time Neji pretended to fall so he could be in his love's arms, but played it as a simple joke. It wasn't long before Neji rested his head against Shikamaru's chest, much to his surprise.

"You're a great dancer," Neji whispered into Shikamaru's ruffled green shirt, slowly drifting left to right, eyes closed. Shikamaru took a deep breath.

"T-thanks," was all Shikamaru could spill out. Neji pulled back to take a good look at his dancing partner. He had trouble reading his emotion.

"What is it, hun?" Shikamaru laughed at his own joke.

_His joke felt like an emotional stab in the chest._

Neji didn't think playing with his feelings was funny, not one bit, even if Shikamaru didn't know his intentions.

_It felt like an emotional twist of a knife._

"There…there are three words I never wanted to say to you, but I must," Neji cooed softly, eyes flying left to right in hesitation. Shikamaru's heart beat picked up its pace.

_Three words? I know those. Everyone knows the words… _

"I.love.you."

"Shikamaru…" Neji tilted his head to one side to look at his destiny.

"Yes, Neji?"

His eyes sparkled the way they did when he was in-

"You're. a. bastard."

And Neji burst into laughter, not heard by anyone outside Shikamaru, at his best friend's ignorant gaping mouth.


End file.
